“We've been suffering from paralysis in our daily lives since the attack on Kerdasa police station last month,” says Fatma, a 60-year-old housewife and Kerdasa resident. Even now, she complains, with security forces everywhere, day to day life is a string of obstacles to be overcome. A week ago, in the early hours of Thursday morning, the police, in cooperation with the army, launched a campaign to rid Kerdasa of terrorist elements. A statement issued by the Interior Ministry said the operation was a response to “the prosecution's orders to arrest a number of terrorists and fugitives” involved in the deadly attack on the Kerdasa police station. So far the ministry has announced the arrest of 126 fugitives and terrorists allegedly involved in the police station and other attacks, and the capture of large quantities of automatic weapons, hand grenades and ammunition as a result of the security crackdown in the Giza areas of Kerdasa and Nahya. On Sunday alone 24 suspects were arrested in Kerdasa and received a 15-day detention order pending further investigations. Early on in the security operation Giza Deputy Director of Security Nabil Farag was shot dead as security forces came under fire. A further nine policemen were injured during the ongoing confrontations when a hand grenade was thrown in their midst. Security forces shot the attacker in the foot. Many of those detained in Kerdasa and Nahya are suspected of involvement in the police station attack. Others are likely to face charges ranging from membership of a terrorist organisation to possessing unlicensed weapons. Said Al-Zenari, suspected of being the mastermind behind the storming of Kerdasa police station, is among the detainees. So is Somaya Shanan, accused of mutilating the bodies of the victims of the attack. She is the mother of Tarek Shanan, who is wanted for the same charges. Security forces are also looking for Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya leader Tarek Al-Zomor, who is thought to be hiding in Nahya. Al-Zomor faces charges of inciting and participating in violence at Bein Al-Sarayat. Residents of Kerdasa, 5km from the Giza Pyramids, breathed a sigh of relief as security forces began their efforts to restore order to the village. They also complain of how the security clampdown has brought everyday life to a standstill. “I have three sons, a mechanic, a building worker and a tailor,” says Fatma, “All of them have been unable to work for more than a month.” Kerdasa is cut off, she says. No transport serves the village, and customers are too frightened to come. The Kerdasa police station was attacked — allegedly by supporters of toppled president Mohamed Morsi — on 14 August, the day the police stormed pro-Morsi sit-ins in Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Nahda Square. Eleven policemen were killed in the attack. The bodies of some of the victims were dragged behind cars. At least one was scalped. Now the army has blocked all access to the area. Fatma complains of the way the media has covered events, “accusing all Kerdasa residents of being terrorists and supporting last month's attack”. The insinuations, she says, have left residents fearful of leaving their houses in case they are arrested. “Kerdasa and Nahya are now fully under control,” says Major General Ashraf Abdallah, the minister of interior's assistant for Central Security Forces. Interior Ministry spokesman Hani Abdel-Latif says the operation in Kerdasa was divided into two parts. Initially the military cordoned off the village, after which “special forces moved in to confront the terrorists and criminals”. Early last week security forces launched a similar security campaign in the Minya village of Delga after three of the village's five churches were attacked “Criminal hotspots like Kerdasa and Delga are among the most poisonous legacies of the Brotherhood regime,” says Abdel-Latif. Operations in Kerdasa and Delga suggest a new push by the authorities to restore law and order in a country that has been plagued by unrest since the 2011 ouster of Hosni Mubarak. Two weeks ago interim President Adli Mansour issued a presidential order extending the month-long state of emergency imposed on 14 August for two more months. An increase in violence and the incidence of terrorist acts — including a failed assassination attempt on Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim — was cited as the reason behind the extension. Ikhwanweb, the Muslim Brotherhood's English Twitter account, posted last Thursday morning: “Kerdasa in Giza is under attack by police and army forces; civilians are being terrorised.” The Pro-Legitimacy National Alliance subsequently issued a statement saying “Kerdasa rejects injustice, with all peacefulness, and will not meet violence with violence, but will continue peaceful resistance to the lying murderous coup”. The alliance added that from “the moment of the criminal attack on the police station by thugs from outside the town Kerdasa residents condemned it as an act of violence”. It claimed that the town was a victim of the campaign of demonisation against the Muslim Brotherhood. It was not residents of Kerdasa who attacked the police station, insist all the inhabitants who spoke with Al-Ahram Weekly. “The attackers came from a nearby village, though they might have been hired by some of Kerdasa's Muslim Brotherhood residents,” says Said, a microbus driver. “Yet still they have arrested 10 microbus drivers from Kerdasa. They pick them up at random then accuse them of being involved in the attack.“ Most of the residents in Kerdasa supported the Muslim Brotherhood, says Said. Ahmed Fayez, a seller of carpets and clothes, misses the good old days when the village attracted visitors in search of handicrafts. Kerdasa was once an essential stop on tourist itineraries, known for its shops selling traditional carpets and clothes. “There are no tourists or even local customers any more. We support the security forces in restoring order but they should also back us in restoring our normal life. “They are blocking access to the town and won't allow anyone to enter. Our livelihoods depend on tourists and visitors from other regions and cities,” says Fayez. In front of the burned out Kerdasa police station Ebtehal, a date seller, sits. “There is no selling, no customers,” she says. “Since the attack on the police station last month our life has been on hold. The security forces are welcome in our town and we know that it's a temporary measure. I'm hoping things will be back to normal sooner rather than later.” Even school children have been affected. Giza Governor Ali Abdel-Rahman postponed the beginning of the school year in Kerdasa and Nahya due to the unresolved security situation. Schools nationwide began on Sunday. Omar Mohamed, a Kerdasa resident who teaches at a school near the Pyramids, complains that his 20-minute commute now takes more than an hour because there are so few ways to get in and out of the village.
